Well, the first full day has come and almost gone. I´m still planning on going out for a few drinks with some of my fellow students in celebration of our successful arrival. Least that´s our excuse.
Had my first meals in a Spanish setting. Got a nice early wake up call at the hotel where we were spending the night to walk down for a nice light breakfast. For me, a croissant with strawberry jam and a yogurt. My roommate and I had lunch at our home for the next 4 months. It was pasta and it was very tasty. Our señora is a pretty good cook. Dinner consisted of gazpacho, which I discovered I´m not a big fan of, and some eggs and sausage since neither I nor my roommate really touched the gazpacho. All in all, I don´t think I´ll starve.
Another thing I discovered is that siesta is a necessity. It gets so hot midday that if you´re not inside in the shade with the a/c running, you´d literally melt. Hell, my roommate (named Chris for future reference) and I had to go to an orientation meeting at the university where we´ll be studying around 5 and we still nearly died on route. And I wholeheartedly approve of siesta. It was nice just laying in the room with the lights off not doing anything. Though I think I´ll run out of tv episodes on my iPod before very long. Still nice though.
And last but most importantly, I believe I found my internet source for most of this trip. There is a computer lab at the school but it closes around 8, and honestly, who in the states wants to chat with me around 2 in the afternoon? But I digress...slightly. It´s cheap and close, and open relatively late which is good for my tastes. My roommate and I are still deciding on whether or not we should just share an internet card so we can have it at home. We still need to ask Marisol (our señora).
And with that, my time has expired for this session. Will continue soon.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Grand Arrival
Well, I made it Sevilla safe and sound. Took a lot longer than expected, but I got here all the same. My flight from Newark to Madrid was smooth, if long. Add to the fact that I experienced a time change and got virtually zero sleep, it felt longer. Fortunately, the entertainment system had some fun movies, so I finally managed to watch Prince Caspian and rewatched Iron Man (though that involved a lot of fast forwarding so I could see it all before descent).
Once I made it to Madrid, I got thoroughly confused. Picked up my bags, went to the area supposedly called "Connections" only to be directed to a different door. I realize now that I should have brushed up on my airport terminology. Might have saved me some time. Anyway, finally get past customs, I'm in the terminal, and my next flight is nowhere to be found. Turn's out, it's in a satellite terminal a good 20 minutes away by bus. Again, finally figured that out after a lot of huffing and puffing around with my luggage.
Once I get to Terminal 4 where Iberia had their check-in, I checked in fine and dandy (though I had to pay a 50 euro fee for my second bag. Could've been worse). The teller was very friendly though, so that it wasn't all bad. After that, I decided to go find my gate and get some munchies, etc. One problem: apparently at Terminal 4 they don't post flight gates until 1 hour beforehand. And Terminal 4 is big. I mean, REALLY big. Takes you a solid half hour to walk from end to end even using those speedy flat escalator thingies. Didn't help me save much energy. So I had a few hours to burn...which involved a bag of potato chips and 2 cans of soda. Which is essentially all I had to eat until I finally got to Sevilla.
Well, that took a lot longer than expected. First, my flight gets pushed back by an hour. No biggie, happens all the time. No worries. I plop down and watch a tv show on my iPod (which died...) Go back to the screen, and now it says my flight's been delayed another hour and half. So now, my flight won't be taking off until a solid 15 minutes after I'm supposed to be at my hotel in Sevilla. Well, I went to the Iberia customer service, they couldn't tell me anything, so I dropped about 10 euros in coins at some internet terminals emailing folks, including my program director hoping she'd get it in time to give me some advice (she didn't), and generally exhausted myself some more. When the plane finally got there, I boarded and promptly passed out.
Now that I'm here though, it's a gorgeous city. I've only seen my hotel and a few streets and back alleys, but I have a feeling I'm going to love it here. It's very picturesque, so I think I'll be bringing my camera everywhere too. Met my roommate for the next few months, and he seems pretty chill. Apparently we'll be living with a single woman who, I'm told, will dote upon us like our grandmother. "Eating alright? Sleeping alright?" etc. I can't complain. We move in tomorrow and then we get to see the school. Should be exciting.
With that, I'm going to pass out. Maybe 3 hours of actual sleep since 9 am yesterday morning (it's now midnight local time) just doesn't do the body good. Fortunately, I've been saving up a lot of sleep the past few weeks, so hopefully I won't be in too bad shape tomorrow.
Once I made it to Madrid, I got thoroughly confused. Picked up my bags, went to the area supposedly called "Connections" only to be directed to a different door. I realize now that I should have brushed up on my airport terminology. Might have saved me some time. Anyway, finally get past customs, I'm in the terminal, and my next flight is nowhere to be found. Turn's out, it's in a satellite terminal a good 20 minutes away by bus. Again, finally figured that out after a lot of huffing and puffing around with my luggage.
Once I get to Terminal 4 where Iberia had their check-in, I checked in fine and dandy (though I had to pay a 50 euro fee for my second bag. Could've been worse). The teller was very friendly though, so that it wasn't all bad. After that, I decided to go find my gate and get some munchies, etc. One problem: apparently at Terminal 4 they don't post flight gates until 1 hour beforehand. And Terminal 4 is big. I mean, REALLY big. Takes you a solid half hour to walk from end to end even using those speedy flat escalator thingies. Didn't help me save much energy. So I had a few hours to burn...which involved a bag of potato chips and 2 cans of soda. Which is essentially all I had to eat until I finally got to Sevilla.
Well, that took a lot longer than expected. First, my flight gets pushed back by an hour. No biggie, happens all the time. No worries. I plop down and watch a tv show on my iPod (which died...) Go back to the screen, and now it says my flight's been delayed another hour and half. So now, my flight won't be taking off until a solid 15 minutes after I'm supposed to be at my hotel in Sevilla. Well, I went to the Iberia customer service, they couldn't tell me anything, so I dropped about 10 euros in coins at some internet terminals emailing folks, including my program director hoping she'd get it in time to give me some advice (she didn't), and generally exhausted myself some more. When the plane finally got there, I boarded and promptly passed out.
Now that I'm here though, it's a gorgeous city. I've only seen my hotel and a few streets and back alleys, but I have a feeling I'm going to love it here. It's very picturesque, so I think I'll be bringing my camera everywhere too. Met my roommate for the next few months, and he seems pretty chill. Apparently we'll be living with a single woman who, I'm told, will dote upon us like our grandmother. "Eating alright? Sleeping alright?" etc. I can't complain. We move in tomorrow and then we get to see the school. Should be exciting.
With that, I'm going to pass out. Maybe 3 hours of actual sleep since 9 am yesterday morning (it's now midnight local time) just doesn't do the body good. Fortunately, I've been saving up a lot of sleep the past few weeks, so hopefully I won't be in too bad shape tomorrow.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Pre-Trip Jitters
Well, this is the beginning of my European adventure blogging. I've got all the necessities, minus a few electronic components for charging my laptop, camera, etc. Haven't started packing exactly, I've just got all my stuff laid out across my brother's bed...with my suitcases right next to it. So essentially I'm procrastinating (how surprising). Don't feel like doing it yet.
I am a little nervous, and from certain sources, I'm going to be missing a good semester at school. So I'll just have to have an amazing time to make up for it. For all those following along at home, I leave Tuesday night at 10 pm, and I'll be in Sevilla, Spain on Wednesday at some time. Not sure exactly when I'll get internet again but that will probably precipitate another blogpost of the god awful long plane ride, food, layover, lost luggage (hopefully not) etc. etc. etc. Anyway, take care everyone! Adios!
I am a little nervous, and from certain sources, I'm going to be missing a good semester at school. So I'll just have to have an amazing time to make up for it. For all those following along at home, I leave Tuesday night at 10 pm, and I'll be in Sevilla, Spain on Wednesday at some time. Not sure exactly when I'll get internet again but that will probably precipitate another blogpost of the god awful long plane ride, food, layover, lost luggage (hopefully not) etc. etc. etc. Anyway, take care everyone! Adios!
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